Philosophy requests diverse hire

By Luke Nozicka

The Department of Philosophy’s tenure and tenure-track faculty hiring plan states the department’s faculty is understaffed and has a diversity problem.

Faculty hiring plans can be submitted at the beginning of each fall semester by departments to its college requesting to search for potential hires. The philosophy department’s top request is to search for a professor to teach Africana philosophy, and in part resolve its diversity issue, the plan states.

Stephen Tyman, interim chair of the philosophy department, said this is the third straight year the department has requested for a hire to teach Africana philosophy. Kenneth Stikkers has taught the class for the last several years.

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“The problem is that it’s not [Stikkers’] area of specialization,” said Tyman, who began as interim chair on Aug. 16 after the retirement of former chair George Schedler. “If he teaches in that area, then he has to vacate his area of specialization [American philosophy]. So we’re stretching him thin.”

John Flowers, co-chair of the Communications Committee of Graduate Assistants United, said more women and African-Americans are becoming interested in the philosophy field. He said if the department wants to remain competitive among other universities, it must hire a more diverse faculty member.

“One of the problems encountered in teaching African-American students is that they go to a philosophy class where they see someone who doesn’t look like them, and somebody who does not make the material relevant to their experience, so they check out,” said Flowers, doctoral candidate from Oak Park studying philosophy. “Having an African-American scholar in the department indicates a commitment to bringing all kinds of voices into the field of philosophy and will attract more students of color. The same could be said for a woman.”

Twenty-four women, including undergraduates and graduates, either have a first, second, third or fourth major in philosophy this semester, stated university spokesperson Rae Goldsmith in an email Wednesday. Six philosophy students are African-Americans, the email stated.

Matt Ryg, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council, said he and Flowers are lobbying for a new faculty member.

“A third or little bit more than a third of our student population is of color, and zero percent of our faculty are of color,” said Ryg, a doctoral candidate from St. Paul, Minn.,studying philosophy. “What message does that send to that entire group of our student population? Like, you’re not represented here.”

Tyman said the department lost three professors in the last several years: Schedler, Jed Delahoussaye, who left in 2011 and specialized in medieval philosophy and Pat Manfredi, who is currently serving administrative duties.

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The department’s full-time faculty consists of one woman and eight men, Tyman said. Terri Wilson, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education, and Larry Hickman, director of the Center for Dewey Studies, both teach part-time as well.

“We don’t have a very diverse faculty,” Tyman said. “For one thing, we’re all old. For another thing, we have over one and a quarter [women faculty] and we don’t have an African-American, and we don’t have any Hispanics.”

The department has not hired a new faculty member since 2006, and requested to hire three new assistant professors, whose estimated annual salaries are $54,000 each.

Tyman said 12 departments filed for a total of 24 position search requests in the College of Liberal Arts this semester.

“This is a priority for us, we need it this year,” Ryg said. “It’s funny that it’s easier to elect a black president of the United States than it is to get a faculty position in the SIU philosophy department.”

Luke Nozicka can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lukenozicka.

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